AVA

People held their breaths and waited in anticipation for AVA's next stunts as he had changed the course he was falling. Generally, players would try to reach the ground as fast as possible since if someone stays in the air for a long time, killing them is easier for the others and their start will be a few seconds after others. It may not be much but we aren't talking about slow individuals. Gamers are people with high reflexes and if given even a second it is enough for them to be a mile away from the one who was still trying to fly in the air.

AVA did the opposite. Instead of bending downwards the man tried to slow his descent as much as possible. The players around him were flabbergasted with that attitude of his. They were feeling that the guy was taking this game easy after just killing a single player. Well, some of them at least since most of them were chuckling inside the room. For them it was quite fun playing with him as every moment feels thrilling, the guy has never-ending cards at his disposal. Which gamer wouldn't want to have that feeling while playing? But the others though few felt that AVA was trampling on their pride. Not everyone was enjoying that atmosphere since there were people who hated feeling like a loser.

Well, it depends on how one sees the game. Was it something you are doing for fun? Or is it to feel superior?

AVA moved his back towards the sky, his hands stretching wide. He switched off the dive mode and slowed down his fall as much as he could. The players were left aghast. Not just players but the people watching online, the spectators, sponsors, and even the commentator.

Who could blame them though? Most of them had at least played the game once and they knew how disadvantageous it was to slow down your fall. Much less getting items, staying alive was just one of the other challenges. They didn't fret about it too much as it wasn't what they came here for. The more heated the atmosphere, the more were they gonna enjoy.

They left what happens next in the hands of the commentator to explain and they shifted their focus on the game. But it wasn't the same case for the players. Many of them too were waiting patiently for what happens next. They wanted to see what that man had in store. Their heartbeats quickened. Most of them didn't move a centimeter from their place as they were smart enough to deduce that there was a reason for him to slow down his fall but the few who weren't that fast to realize it took it as an opportunity to get away from the pack.

The moment they left their place.....they disappeared leaving nothing behind.

Silence descended in the entire stadium. The sounds of gasps and shock were the only thing echoing in the stadium. The stunned commentator didn't manage to recover from the shock for a long while.

Inside the room where competitors sat the players who died turned their heads towards the in-charge in disbelief and rage. They needed answers for what happened to them. It wasn't a joke to just let it all go when they don't even know the possible reason for their deaths. Removing their headphones they walked over to the in-charge after meeting up with each other.

Alas, the only answer they received was the in-charge shaking his head in astonishment. They felt different emotions when they saw his answer but one this they all had in common was the wrenching pain from their head when they thought about the consequences of dying right at the start of the game for no reason.

They were disappointed in themselves more than anything.

The audience was in the same situation. Confusion was something they still weren't completely accustomed to even after watching many games that AVA participated in before coming here.

The commentator standing on the stage came out of the daze and slowed the clip as much as possible.

The players, spectators, and everyone else waited in anticipation for the reason of this situation only, except the whole game slowing down and the structural components of the game moving as they were programmed nothing different happened. They darted their eyes from one point to another in hopes of finding out the reason but there was none. The players disappeared out of nowhere just the same way as before.

The players who died felt their hearts sank seeing that.

The commentator repeated the process three to four times but his efforts were for naught. The people began talking among themselves about the reason for this rare occurrence but even after singling out all of the possibilities, one question remained in their minds- Who did this?

The screen changed to the live screen of the game. The other players focused only on their characters to not die like the others.

"It might be a bug," said the commentator.

With that, the others continued watching the match by trying to forget about what happened.

The players were very close to the ground and most of them opened their parachutes at the same time except AVA of course. He never opened the parachute as he was a little far away from the rest of them.

All of them separated themselves from each other in teams of 6. The first thing important for them was to gather as many static points as they could. Static points were a kind of currency used to exchange for different items by killing monsters. They are only allowed to use one weapon in their inventory. Since the map changes depending upon the players' character level.

They went in different directions in search of a weapon.

None of them even had a thought to kill AVA before he reaches the ground as they were busy with finding their weapons. If they get a weapon before him then killing him would be as easy as slicing a cake even if he used all of the tricks he knew. The weapons and powers they had until now disappear the moment they reach the ground. The only weapon they had now were the basic ones.

Regardless of how people saw it, they didn't find any way for the players to take down AVA after seeing how proficient he was in the sky. If someone who can do a 360 degree kill with the weakest gun in the game is that easy to kill then every other player in the match was a newbie. Most of them realized that AVA never took a risk by not fastening his fall but they still couldn't figure out the reason for it though.

AVA landed on the ground safely in a deserted area. The second he touched the ground, most of the spectators expected him to run like other players to find treasures, powers, and weapons but he didn't do anything.

He didn't do anything. His character was just standing straight in the middle of the forest with trees large enough that they tore the sky.

The people in the audience, the ones watching through their phones, the players that died, and even the commentator were stupefied by that.

They all thought that this was a glitch, bug, or whatnot but then the commentator shifted the live game screen to the inside of the game room. And what he saw made him question his existence. Not just him but everyone sitting in the audience or watching online and the players that were out of the game.

They felt cheated, wronged, and wanted to grab AVA's head and break it into two pieces.

"Why the hell is that piece of shit stretching?"